BANNING LEGIT ADULT SITES IN INDIA COULD LEAD PEOPLE TO ACCESS ILLEGAL CONTENT

Pornhub, the Canada-based adult entertainment site, is one of the leading porn websites in the world. It was also one among the 827 sites that were kicked out of India’s internet portals, but a number of other porn sites continued their stay.

The move to block 827 porn sites was sought after news reports about the gangrape of a minor girl in a boarding school in Dehradun surfaced, as the reports stated that the boys who raped the minor girl engaged with pornographic content before committing the crime.

According to a report in TheIndian Express, Pornhub VP Corey Price’s reacted to this ban by the Department of Telecommunication by stating that banning of porn sites is a “disservice to the people of India”.

He says that this ban might lead the Indian audience to access sites which may contain illegal content.

Pornhub, for which India is the third largest market, has definitely seen a hit in its numbers.

The government had even asked the internet service providers to block over 800 porn sites. But according to a report, Chief Justice HL Dattu had said, “Such interim orders cannot be passed by this court. Somebody may come to the court and say look I am above 18 and how can you stop me from watching it within the four walls of my room. It is a violation of Article 21 [right to personal liberty].”

Price too says as per the Express report, that there are “no laws against pornography in India and watching adult content privately”, stating that Pornhub was being used as a scapegoat.

When there are several issues like illegal content floating on the internet, Price states that their site has “parental controls”, a “strict terms of service” and even takes down pages which have non-consensual content. He also indicated that blocking porn sites would also lead to surge in VPN software usage, effectively making the ban pointless.